Field
The present specification generally relates to methods of manufacturing glass-ceramic sheets. More particularly, this specification is directed to methods of manufacturing glass-ceramic sheets including stacking glass sheets having textured surfaces.
Technical Background
Thin glass sheets may be made by a thin-rolled process. To enhance the production capacity, the thin sheets created by the thin-rolled process are often stacked during the ceramming step. Additionally, a shorter ceramming cycle with a higher ceramming temperature may be used to reduce costs and production times associated with the ceramming cycle. The high temperatures used in the ceramming cycle and the number of stacked glass sheets may cause surfaces of the stacked glass sheets to fuse together. The more glass sheets added to the stack, and the higher the ceram temperature used, the stronger the adhesion between the thin glass sheets becomes. Separating the fused glass sheets after the ceramming process may result in breakage and, thus, product loss.
To address the above issues, barrier powders have been applied to the surfaces of the thin glass sheets that are in contact with one another. These barrier powders reduce the amount of fusion that occurs between the thin glass sheets. However, additional process steps are required to apply the barrier powder to the glass sheets before the ceramming process and to remove the barrier powder from the glass-ceramic sheets after the ceramming process. Thus, costs and production time are increased. Further, the barrier powders may leave contaminants in the ceramming chamber.
Accordingly, a need exists for methods of manufacturing glass-ceramic sheets that allows separating stacked glass-ceramic sheets and shorter ceram cycles without adding unnecessary process steps.